"Living no Matsunaga-san".... Episode three of ten recap

 

 Air Dates: January 9th until March 12, 2024. Tuesdays at 11:00 pm on Fuji-TV

There's ten episodes which average ~23 minutes a show, subs were done by Blitz Subs

Main Cast: If there's anyone who has read many of the dramas I've recapped you know this is an odd one for me. Usually the genre(s) are for police/mystery/suspense/horror shows but every now and again need something a bit mellow or at least not as intense. Which is what this series will be like, viewed the first two episodes which were decent so thought why not recap this drama? Plus I did want to watch a show that featured Hikaru and she has the main female role in this. In real life she will be turning 23 later on this year but in this show plays an 18 year old high school senior named Miko. There will be no love theme in this show as the main male character Jun is 29 in age, I kind of liken his relationship with Miko as being her much older brother. Wrote the character details after the first two shows but know for the third episode there will be a new character added in. To date every scene has featured either Miko or Jun so not all that much is known yet about the others major characters but sure that will change and will edit this section, right below is the 365 Share House.

Hikaru Takahashi as Miko Sonoda.... 18 year old HS senior who lives in Tokyo. However in the first episode her parents were planning on moving to Wakayama as her grandmother was sick and they needed to run her Hot Springs resort. Of course Miko wanted to remain in Tokyo for her final year but she needed a guardian to watch over her. Which at first was her uncle Masahiko and Miko moved into his 365 Share House so all seemed acceptable to her parents. However Masahiko's company was sending him overseas for a few months, would Miko have to move to Wakayama? NO for the second oldest person at the 365 Share House Jun said he would be Miko's guardian which sounded odd at first to the mother who did eventually agree and what kind of adventures will Miko have at the house?

 Kento Nakajima as Jun Matsunaga.... The title of the drama is named after him and can't tell you exactly why. Jun is a 29 year old freelance designer, mainly for book and magazine covers. Now that Miko's uncle has left for a while Jun seems to be the head of the Share House, he can be overly strict and at first did try to give Miko house rules as he's her unofficial guardian. But think deep down Jun is a bit soft hearted and he does care about everyone living at the house. Below is the uncle Masahiko, won't add him into this section as we may not see him again.

Koji Mukai as Kentaro Suzuki.... The other male at the 365 Share House, Kentaro is known to be a bit of a playboy and works as a bartender.

Tomoka Kurokawa as Asako Onuki... This is an actress I like a lot and have seen her in a few other dramas. Asako is the oldest of the 365 Share House residents and owns a nail salon shop in Shibuya.

 Sakurako Okubo as Akane Hattori.... 23 year old who works PT at a curry restaurant, Akane is a bit daffy but seems to be so likable.

Taiyu Fujiwara as Ryo Hojo.... We saw him briefly in the first episode as he was going to move into the house. However Ryo thought it was a regular apartment not a room so he ended up not moving in. But he did at the beginning of the third show as there was an empty room due to Masahiko moving out, Ryo never quite explained why he changed his mind. He's a shy man in his young twenties, works a PT job and is a medical student.

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 No need for now to have intro paragraphs as episodes are just 23 minutes in length. I really don't think this drama will have a romance plot to it as the main male character Jun is 29 in age while the main female is Miko who is still in high school and is eighteen in age. However she has fallen a bit for Jun, especially after he gave her a phone strap at the end of the last episode. It really appears Miko has never had a serious crush, least until now and often during this show she did try to avoid Jun, mainly for his sake! The other important event was at the beginning of this episode a new tenant moved into the 365 Share House whose name is Ryo Hojo. In the first show he was going to move in but turned down the room as he thought it would be a regular apartment. But with Miko's uncle Masahiko moving out there was an extra room, Ryo moved in though never quite said why he changed his mind. Ryo is in the 20-22 year old range, has a PT job and is a college student.

 Ryo is also a very shy young man, when Jun asked would Sunday be a good time for his Welcoming Party Ryo said NO quietly and shuffled back to his room. Jun is a bit stern though with a soft side, he does care about the other five residents at the Share House. So he told everyone else this Sunday they'll hold a surprise party for Ryo, his editor had rented out a Grambling  House for a meeting but it had to be cancelled, the bill was paid so why not use it! A Grambling House is a very small building and there's many of them in a group, it's not much larger than a few rooms combined. So the party is all set to go but on that Sunday Asako, who owns a nail salon, had to work until 5:00 pm which she said that Sunday morning. So the bartender Kentaro will drive her, Akane and the honoree Ryo to the party once all are assembled. What that meant is Miko had to be alone with Jun until everyone arrived and as mentioned before she has developed some feelings for him. Miko's main worry became does Jun also have a crush on her(?) and as I've said before he treats her more like a little sister.

 There's plenty of screenshots above and below of a Japanese Grambling House. It is a neat set up or least this one was with two beds, some futons and tables along with enough room for 10-15 people. Miko did most of the decorating at the place and Jun was mighty impressed, noticed in this show that Miko does act older than eighteen and is that because Hikaru is 22 in real life? Jun did most of the cooking and he does have many talents but can make mistakes too and did say that above. What he made a mess of was not checking everyone's schedule beforehand, Asako having to work until 5:00 pm plus the honoree Ryo was also at work, no one knew he had a job until then. So for the first time Jun was kind of down upon himself, had he checked the activities of all this Grambling House wouldn't have been used and the surprise party should have taken place at the Share House.

 So the party will consist of just Jun and Miko, he was in no mood to be happy so told her to dig into the massive amount of food. Which Miko did but went just a tad overboard, when Jun returned to the building after a stroll to cool down Miko was lying on a bed moaning about her stomach. To Jun could it be her appendix(!) or something else severe, however Miko groaned about overeating and when Jun looked at how much food she consumed put two and two together. This was kind of a reflective scene for Jun who began to rub Miko's stomach(!) to calm it down and related to her many of his thoughts. Not that Miko heard much as she fell fast asleep but Jun did confess about being too overbearing and how he had been a loner until moving into the Share House. He too ended up dozing and as you can see below had crawled into bed with Miko, nothing happened between them or did something....

 When Jun arose from the bed he tripped over his own feet and fell back into bed, an inch from Miko's lips when the unexpected happened. Which is that the door to the Grambling House opened and the other four residents from the 365 Share House entered! They saw the position of the two and had they spent the previous few hours making whoopee???? Of course not and Jun hurriedly explained the situation which the four did believe, for all of his faults Jun isn't a man who would ever take advantage of a woman and odd things do happen. It's now after 9:00 pm and let's begin the party but besides some spirits there wasn't much else to consume for Miko had eaten most everything. Luckily Akane had brought two bags of fireworks and the party moved outside, the season is still Winter.

 At first the newbie Ryo hadn't wanted a party as he is a shy young man and hates the attention being on him. But towards the end he did admit to Jun that he had a change of heart about things, he knew his new mates just wanted to welcome him in their own way and should have said yes to Jun's party plans in the first place, perhaps this adventure would have never taken place. With episodes being just 23 minutes we're already at the end, as you can see above that final scene took place while the credits were rolling. This ends today's three recaps, it's hasn't been a must watch series to date but one that has been very enjoyable and interesting. Will be busy for a few days so the next trio of recaps should be late next week, will have the drama finished the following week.